The Shurley Family Story
by braytheist
Summary: Archangel AU! Chuck is a single father to five children, four boys and a girl. Follows the storyline as far as Chuck, Gabriel, and Lucifer leaving Heaven. For AU purposes Lucifer's name has been changed to Nick. Contains OC. Rated M for language, violence, and who knows what else as the story goes on.
1. Chuck

_Authors Note: This is an Archangel AU. The main characters are Chuck, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Lucifer, and Haven (OC). For AU purposes, Lucifer's name has been changed to Nick. Other characters may show up later in the story but the focus is on the Shurley Family._

Parenting is hard.

I'm sure I am the biggest failure in the world, worst parent ever. I just didn't know what to do with the mess that was my family, so I did what I thought was the only thing I could do: I left.

Michael was a good boy who grew into a good man. I knew he could handle things. I needed time to just think. Everything had fallen apart once my wife passed away, and no matter what I did things just got worse. The boys were all out of control, I had no idea how to handle a little girl, or a big family by myself. I began drinking away my depression and anxiety and spent more time at the Roadhouse than I did at home.

On top of being a single father to five children, I worked as an analyst at a company and had the biggest jerk in the world for a boss. Dick Roman was a thorn in my side, constantly riding me for the smallest mistake, for being five minutes late because my five-year-old daughter wouldn't get ready for school on time, for looking too tired. No matter what I did, he was on my case. Dick would give me projects with immediate due dates, knowing what I had going on at home. The anxiety carried over to home life, although I tried to leave my work at the office. I was irritable, short, and didn't give my children the time or attention they all deserved.

Not many people understood what it was like to be a single father. The judging looks I would receive as my hyperactive son would run up and down aisles of the grocery store, tossing boxes of sugary cereal and bags of candy into the cart. Or when my middle child would leave the house looking like he worshipped Satan (as a side note, he probably thought he WAS Satan). I'm not sure what was going on with Nick at the time, one day he was fine and the next day, he snapped. Completely lost his mind and took it out on the whole family. He began dressing in all black, chains hanging off his baggy pants, green hair, piercings, listening to that awful racket he called death metal. He hated his siblings, and what's worse, he hated me.

We all were a happy family, back in the day. Even after my wife died, we managed to keep it together for a while. Then the boys all hit puberty and it all went to Hell. Raphael was too good to be seen with us, too busy being captain of the football team, too busy with his friends. Michael was busy with his first year of college. Nick had gone dark side, stayed locked inside his room (which he had painted black even though I had told him absolutely not) listening to his loud music and doing who knows what else. Gabriel...Oh, Gabriel. My youngest son, the jokester of the family. He was a funny kid, always made everyone laugh. He had a charm about him that made everyone like him, except for his teachers. He'd come home from school every day from Kindergarten on with a note from the teacher. He was hyperactive, never could sit still, always up to something. I had to stay on my toes with that one, constantly having to keep him away from the bowl of sugar in the kitchen or the spray paint in the garage.

Then there was Haven. The unplanned outcome of a drunken night at a friend's wedding and a failed vasectomy. Our boys were old enough to care for themselves, Michael starting high school, Raphael and Nick in middle school, and Gabriel in third grade. Gabriel was meant to be our last one, the baby until my wife approached me one morning with a positive pregnancy test. Raphael was the only one of the boys that weren't thrilled about a new baby, mostly because his younger siblings already annoyed him. The rest of them were excited, though, even Gabriel. We thought he would have the most trouble, but he turned out to be a wonderful big brother. Nick was a good brother to the younger ones, too, for awhile. He didn't care much for Michael and Raphael, who liked to just keep to each other.

My wife began to hemorrhage after giving birth to our only daughter and lost too much blood. She passed away as I sat by her bedside, our newborn in my arms. I had lost the foundation of our family, my soulmate, but as I stood in the corner of the room watching the nurses unplug the cables and IV's from my wife's lifeless body, I looked down at the sleeping little one in my arms. A pain went through my core, and I was scared. I knew nothing about raising girls, hell I barely knew anything about raising boys. I didn't know if I could do it, but I was determined to. I took her home and made a promise to my heartbroken boys that I would do everything possible to be a good parent.

I failed. I couldn't handle the pressure and the stress. I walked out on my family and I ruined their lives. I regret that decision, and every decision I made after that because I never went back. I couldn't face them after leaving, it was too hard. Now, though, I have to. I have to go back and face my children to ask them to forgive me before it's too late.


	2. Michael

The moment I got the phone call from my father, years after he walked out, I knew something was wrong. I had been in contact with him a few times throughout the years, but he would never come home or see me face to face. The others never knew that I had talked to him, all they know is that Dad walked out on us and never looked back. That both was and was not the case. He did leave, and I was left to try to keep the family together, but he didn't completely abandon us in every sense. I had found a contact number from a coworker of his, a man by the name of Donatello. I didn't bother Dad much unless I really needed him, and he would only call once a year or so to "check in'. Each time I would talk to Dad, I could hear the pain in his voice. I knew he missed us, I knew he knew that he made a mistake. The thing about Dad was that he didn't know how to face his mistakes. He didn't know how to apologize. That's the thing about this family, we all run away from our problems instead of facing them. We have all done it in one way or another, so I don't blame him really. I just wish he hadn't of left. I could have helped him, I would have helped him. After he left, I had to drop out of college to take care of Gabriel and Haven. I wish he knew how hard it got sometimes for me, even though I know he believed I could handle it.

I still remember every word of the letter Dad had left on my nightstand the night he walked out, and it still stings just as much today as it did then.

" _Michael,_

 _I can't do this anymore. I can't watch this family fall apart and me sitting here helpless. I've tried everything I can think of with Nick, nothing worked and now he's gone. Gabriel is gone. I'm losing my family like I have lost myself._

 _I need time to think about things. I don't know how much time I will need, but I trust in you, Michael. You're a good, strong man and I am proud of who you have become. Please take care of your sister, such an innocent soul should not have to go through these things. Watch out for Raphael, make sure he stays out of trouble and gets that scholarship. Find Gabriel. Bring him home, he's far too young to be out on his own. Pray for Nick._

 _I love you,_

 _Dad."_

I never thought to be angry at my father for leaving us. We weren't the best kids, and all of us gave him a hard time. I was far more focused on my brothers and sister to be angry. I knew that Dad left for a reason, whether that be a good or bad reason. I couldn't get him to come home, so I did what I had to do. I dropped out of college and raised what was left of our family.

Raphael was a major help, working to help pay the bills between school and football practice. I worked crappy jobs to support us and lived off what little savings Dad had left for us. I did the parenting thing for Haven, who was far to little to understand what had happened to her perfect family. I took her to school, took her to soccer practice, hosted sleepovers (although her friends claimed I was boring). I tried to give her as normal of a life as I could under the circumstances. The poor girl was broken into pieces, but just like the rest of us Shurley's, she had a way of expressing her feelings. Nick acted out. Raphael buried himself in football. I buried myself in my books. Dad buried himself in his alcohol. Gabriel defaced public property and stole candy bars from gas stations just to say he did it. Haven, on the other hand, reacted differently to change and distress. At first, given her young age, she was confused and sad. She cried every night, not able to understand where the rest of her family was or why they left. She clung to me like glue for months, afraid that I would leave her too. She would cry on the way to school every day, begging me not to make her go because she was afraid that I wouldn't come back for her at the end of the day. She would sleep next to me most nights, curled up into my side, and if I dared moved she would sit up and ask where I was going, her small voice full of fear. As she grew older, though, she began to shut herself down. She stuck to herself at school and didn't have many friends. She wouldn't leave the house much. She wouldn't talk about anything anymore. Not about our brothers or our father, not about school, nothing. I was losing her and it scared me. I made sure to stay present though, always trying to talk to her, always offering to do something with her if she wanted. I just wanted her to know that I was there for her.

I had finally found Gabriel and brought him home after two years of him being gone. He had run away from home and had actually been staying with a friend of his he had met through a website. He rolled his eyes as I lectured him about internet safety on the drive home. Things were fine for awhile, he was happy to be home now that Nick had left, and Haven was thrilled to have her best friend back, but the happiness didn't last for long. It never does.


	3. Nick

You want me to talk about my family? What family? I have no family because they all turned their backs on me. I don't need them, never did, never will. However, I guess I would like to tell my side of the story since I never get the chance to.

I was sixteen. I had lost my mother, my father was an alcoholic. My two older brothers were douchebags who only cared about themselves. My younger brother and sister, they were annoying. Gabriel and Haven constantly bothered me, wanting me to play some stupid game with them. Wanting me to take them to the park. Wanting wanting wanting. Bleh. I'll never have children, you know. They're poop and vomit filled annoyances.

I had enough of my family's shit one day and just left. Well, it wasn't' as easy as that. Michael tried to stop me, which resulted in a broken nose for him. We were rolling around on top of the broken coffee table, trying to get a blow in here or there but most of it was fighting for control of the other one. Like hell I was going to let Michael stop me from doing what I wanted anymore, and he was bound and determined to do so. Raphael had walked in from his football game and saw us there in the floor wrestling with each other. He tried to pull us apart but I wasn't going down without a fight. Hell, I wasn't going down. Not this time. Of course dear old Dad wasn't there to step in, not that he would have. Whenever Michael and I got physical, Dad would just say something like "Boys, stop". He was too weak to do anything about it. Gabriel hated when we fought. He'd try to get in the middle sometimes and separate us but he was much smaller than Michael and I and he'd always get pushed out of the way. That night he ended up getting hurt. Raphael had pulled me to my feet, demanding I go to my room and chill out. I told him that he wasn't the boss of me and made a lunge for Michael. I grabbed his shirt and began punching him as Raphael tried to pull me off again. Gabriel had heard the yelling and had run in, grabbing my arm and pulling on it. In the heat of the moment, I had turned around and shoved him as hard as I could. He went flying backward, landing wrong on his arm. The sound of his arm breaking made Michael and I stop in our tracks.

 _Look what you did!_ Raphael shouted in my face

I remember standing there, watching Michael and Raphael rush to Gabriel's side. The poor kid was crying hysterically, holding his arm. I just stood there while Michael and Raphael tried to figure out what to do about our hurt brother. Haven had heard the commotion and came into the room. Her eyes were wide as she looked from Gabriel to me.

I remember hearing Michael yell to get Haven out of here. I don't know if he was talking to me, or Raphael, but I was the one to snatch her up and carry her to her room. She was asking me over and over what happened, and I had no answer. I put her down on her bed and squatted down to her level. She placed her hand on my face and gave me a sad pout.

 _I don't like it when you and Michael fight. It makes me sad._

I sighed, before handing her one of the stuffed animals off her bed. I kissed her on the forehead and assured her that Gabriel would be ok, before walking out of the room. I closed my door and punched the wall, letting out a frustrated yell. I laid on my bed staring at the ceiling until I heard voices coming from down the hallway. I got up and poked my head out of the room and watched as paramedics carried Gabriel off to the hospital. Raphael left with them and Michael turned and saw me standing there watching. He was pissed but he was more worried about Gabriel than me at the moment. I stepped out of his way as he walked down the hall to Haven's room. He gathered her shoes, blanket, a few books before walking back out with her following behind him. I reluctantly followed and got in the car with them and experienced the most awkwardly silent car ride in my life. Michael didn't want to fight in front of Haven, but I knew it was going to come.

We got to the hospital and Dad was waiting there for us. Raphael had called him on the way to the hospital. I remember Dad's face turning deep red when he saw me. He marched up to me, snatched my arm, and drug me outside. He yelled and cursed at me for five minutes until he finally took a deep breath and looked at me.

 _I want you gone. Go home, pack a bag, and get the hell out of my house._

 _But…_

 __I tried to explain to him what happened, but he wouldn't listen. He never listened. So I got angry and walked away. I went home, packed what few things I wanted to take with me, and left.


End file.
